1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a projector.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a projector using a laser light source as a broad gamut, highly efficient light source has received attention in terms of performance enhancement of a projector.
A known example of a projector of this type includes a laser light source that emits laser light, a light diffusing section that diffuses the laser light emitted from the laser light source, and a polarization conversion element that converts the diffused light having exited from the light diffusing section into polarized light having a specific oscillation direction (see Japanese Patent No. 4193864, for example).
The polarization conversion element separates light incident from the light diffusing section into P-polarized light and S-polarized light and aligns the polarization direction of one of the separated polarized light fluxes with the polarization direction of the other one of the separated polarized light fluxes before they exit out of the polarization conversion element. The laser light emitted from the laser light source, which is substantially uniform, linearly polarized light, is depolarized when diffused in the light diffusing section and then incident on the polarization conversion element. That is, the linearly polarized light emitted from the laser light source is incident on the polarization conversion element after changed to incomplete linearly polarized light. If the depolarization in the light diffusing section is insufficient, however, the P-polarized light and the S-polarized light separated from the diffused light having exited from the light diffusing section differ from each other in terms of luminance, resulting in intensity unevenness of the light having exited from the polarization conversion element. When the light having intensity unevenness is used as illuminated light, light with which a screen is irradiated may have illuminance unevenness and hence the quality of a displayed image may decrease.